


Desire

by Dmonius



Series: Cosmic Love [3]
Category: DCU
Genre: Kryptonians invaded Earth, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-27
Updated: 2011-11-27
Packaged: 2017-10-26 14:52:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/284551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dmonius/pseuds/Dmonius





	Desire

Kon hovered with his feet on top of the roof of the laboratory; the armor and the mask covered his body and his face the same time and he made sure that not even his breath could be heard. According to the traitor inside the Resistance, the surveillance devices of this laboratory were as high as those of the Kryptonian Watchtower in space which was the reason why Kon had ensured that could neither be seen or heard or felt by the laser beams guarding the roof. And – the gist of it – he was still able to focus his super hearing on the conversation inside. The traitor had been very precise about the time, date and location and Kon still had five minutes left until the silence inside was interrupted by a group of people entering.  
“So, Miss Waller,” Luthor said. “We are all here – what is so important?”  
Kon held his breath for a second or so – Luthor was a part of the scheme? Of course, Waller was a logical choice, his Dad had pointed out to him, as she was far too intelligent to be contented with a life under suppression...but Luthor?  
“Some time ago, when I was on a science mission at Kansas,” Waller started. “I did encounter a very interesting radioactive substance.”  
“What kind of substance?” was Luthor's question and Kon's thought the same time. He held his breath again and just wanted the others to talk; he focused on their heartbeats but that didn't help in recognizing them either.  
“It's...I don't know how to call it...but...as I've found out...”  
That was the moment. Kon felt and heard a heartbeat he hadn't encountered in such a long time. The familiar de-dum-de-dum-de-dum as if it was the constant rhythm of a song or a poem seemed to approach him along with a few others.  
The bomb exploded when it touched his skin and for a second, he lost the required concentration and fell right on the roof; it triggered off probably every surveillance device on the building which was why Kon took a moment to breath before he hovered back into the air.  
A second bomb – also in form of a Batrang – hit him that moment; he made a involuntary salto backwards but landed on his feet with the constant sirens in his ears – and the heartbeat of a particular well-known person.  
“Tim, where are you?”  
“There is no Tim,” a dark raspy voice answered instead.  
The voice may come out of nowhere but Kon immediately knew where to look, jumped into the air and caught the boy in the shadows of the stairwell's entrance. At least, he thought to catch the boy as another Batrang hit him and he started to have a headache with the third explosion in a minute approaching him. He opened his eyes – at the exact moment the kick stroke him and nearly made him lose ground. Kon heard how the boy landed on his feet and tried to kick him from below but now, his Kryptonian super speed was faster, caught the boy's leg and threw him back. Before he hit the ground, Kon had grabbed him again at his feet and jumped into the air.  
He didn't make it far. The stamping of an angry high heel later, he heard the shot of a cross-brow; to his own surprise, it wasn't directed at him but a rope encircled the boy's feet at the same moment he heard the legendary cry of Black Canary pointed at his super hearing. The shock made him loosen the grib on the boy's leg who used the moment to kick him into the face right after the echo had died away.  
“I would have been delighted to inform you about the impact this rare substance has on Kryptonian physiology but...leaving seems to be quit appropriate.”  
Kon opened his eyes and tried to follow the boy who obviously was falling down the space between the laboratory and another house; he was caught by the rope and pulled up an instant after Kon felt the far-too familiar pressure of a Batrang exploding in front of his eyes.  
When he had gathered himself again, he saw the whole group on the roof of the neighboring house; the Huntress on the left, Black Canary on the right, the Batman in the center and Robin right in front of the Dark Knight. He watched them closely and they watched back for a second or so; Kon used his hearing again to be absolutely sure and between breathing, blood rushing and the noises of the street, he could hear Tim's heartbeat inside Robin's dress.  
He gathered speed again and tried to follow but the four heroes were nowhere to be seen or heard again as were the scientists – Luthor, Waller and whoever had also been inside there. He hadn't got any information concerning the rare substance Waller had found but on a personal level, the failure of the mission had provided him with something more precious and valuable as any information.  
Tim was out there. And not too far away.  
***  
Tim left the supermarket and walked slowly towards the clocktower two blocks away; in his right hand, he held a pager bag whereas his other hand was positioned in the pocket of his coat. Outside the supermarket, his glasses fogged up; he paused and sighed, putting the bag on a nearby bench and used the sleeve of his coat to get rid of the fog in the lenses. Out of a trained reflex, he turned his back on the street until the window glass lenses were clean again.  
His rather long hair had been cut around the same day Diana had provided him with the new glasses in order to conceal him from the arrest warrants of the Kryptonian armed forces. Even though he couldn't see a stranger when he looked into the mirror, he had been able to trick several random controls over the last few months. Moments like this, which were due-to the December approaching, didn't make his heartbeat rise anymore.  
***  
“I've decided that you're going to stay with Oracle and the Birds of Prey,” Bruce said. “For the time being, there will be no Robin.”  
“Why? Because I broke up with Dick?”  
“Partly, yes,” Diana had answered instead. She had stood in the shadow and only the golden WW of her armor shone through the darkness. “We can't work with a mutual distraction.”  
“Why isn't he the one to go?”  
“Because he's not the one to draw the Kryptonian heir's attention,” Batman simply stated.  
“One time and it's not even my fault! You must be kidding.”  
“We're not,” Diana said while approaching. She smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder. “Gotham isn't out of range – when things have settled down, you may come back.”  
“Gotham is closer to Metropolis than the Mountain,” Tim said after a pause.  
“I know,” Batman said. “And I'm going to watch you from time to time.”  
“You don't mean to say so...”  
***  
He sighed again and again started heading towards the clocktower where Barbara was already waiting for her Vanilla milk. The Birds of Prey were okay though. He had worked with Huntress and Black Canary before, and Spoiler, Hawk and Dove seemed to be nice fellows as well – especially Dove, of course, who seemed to be too friendly from time to time.  
As time gone by, he was merely a street apart from the clocktower when he ran into a familiar-looking man with glasses, and entered the library and the clocktower thereafter. He went up the stairwell and lost pace the closer he got to the top. He heard how Barbara was talking on the phone when he entered the room.  
It was Dick who was on the other side; thus, Tim turned around and slowly walked towards the refrigerator on the other side. It made it possible for him to listen without being seen.  
“So...” Dick said. “He doesn't go to school?”  
“No,” Barbara said. “I told authority that I homeschool him.”  
“And they bought that?”  
“I can be very convincing.”  
“I know.”  
“Is there anything else you want to talk about?”  
“No...I think we can clear the line. He can come out now, I think.”  
Tim sighed as those words reached him and took a cups of vanilla milk when he walked towards the central monitor. Barbara already turned around and smiled at him, but her gaze was on the vanilla milk Tim provided her with.  
“Sometimes, I hate him,” Tim said.  
“Dick?”  
“Yeah. He's … so....”  
“Nonchalant. Jason used this term once.”  
“Yes.”  
“Just reminds me of you, dear,” Barbara replied.  
“That was the point. We were to much alike to share the same,” Tim said. “So, what's my task for today?”  
“Mathematics. You find your handout in your folder.”  
“You know, Barbara...sometimes, I hate you too.”  
“How come? I've always thought to be everyone's darling.”  
“Nonchalance doesn't get you as far as you believe.”  
“You're being tedious.”  
“Could we please drop this?”  
“I'm not the one being tedious,” Barbara remarked, remaining the sovereign one of their combination.  
“Yes, you are!”  
Tim rolled his eyes and left the monitor room for the living room where he sat down on the couch with his laptop on his knees. He opened the file Barbara had provided him with but his thoughts ran off the track the moment after. Barbara was a class B1 citizen; she had much more access to information and even a set of privileges. As she was his legal warden, he was classified as a B1 as well; before Bruce Wayne had taken him into his custody and positioned him as Kon's toyboy, Tim had been a C2 citizen, only one social rank apart from being a mere slave. Bruce of course, as an A1 citizen, had of course the advantage on his side. How it would have been if he had been Bruce's son, Tim would never tell. The time when he had reached the point of being a member of Bruce's houshould had been great. How he fell in love with the real son, Dick, and how he started to love him back. How he was trained to be Jason's successor, to be the third Robin. Of course, Jason's death by the hand of Kal-El wasn't that worth remembering but it had a symbolic meaning for him.  
Tim had liked the fact that he had something to carry on, a burden that would lead him into the fight side by side with Huntress, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and all the others. At least, until Luthor got all excited about positioning a spy under Kal-El's nose. It had destroyed everything and Tim had even been affirmative. And thus, he wasn't sure sometimes at what point of his life the regret really started.  
The door opened and Barbara rolled very slowly in.  
“Hey,” she said.  
“I want to be alone.”  
“I'm sorry,” she said.  
Tim turned towards her. “For what?”  
“That I'm so tedious sometimes,” she replied.  
“You don't need to be sorry,” Tim said. “I'm angry about myself.”  
“You think about him, do you?”  
“About Dick? No way.”  
“About Kon-El.”  
“Of course not!”  
“You're so fast, I know that I don't have to believe you, dear,” Barbara said. “I think there was an article about this psychological phenomenon before the invasion but I can't recall it.”  
“I'm not crazy, Barbara,” Tim said. “It's just that I...well, I am confused.”  
“Want to watch Casablanca on the big screen?” Barbara asked as a compensation. “Dinah's coming over later with Helena and Selina.”  
“Sounds good,” Tim said. He smiled. “No mathematics today?”  
“Only this one time,” Barbara said. She turned the wheelchair slowly around and headed back to the monitor room, when the sirens suddenly alarmed them. The repetition of the sudden beep-o-beep-o-beep-o-beep alarmed them both, and it surprised Tim that Barbara still was faster in the monitor room than he who obviously could still walk.  
The whole screen was filled with a face, the far-too-familiar face of Kal-El. Out of his eyes, red beams of light erputed and destroyed the lense of the surveillance camera.


End file.
